Every few months there seems to be another revolution in the
publishing industry. Startups come and game change for a while and then a Big
Fish snaps them up.
This week Oyster – the subscription reading service, got
snapped up by Google.
Laura Hazard Own has a good analysis of recent history and a
pointer to where next it could all go.
With Scribed the only other subscription service outside of
Kindle Unlimited providing competition, is Google finally making a play? Mike
Shatzkin uses this week’s news to look at the viability of ebook subscription models and what about Apple...
Oyster’s team were very good at Mobile Reading Apps and none
of the Big Fish have made a move in this direction so far... So Google has
‘acquihired’ Oyster and their mobile reading technology. There may be big moves in mobile digital publishing ahead. But the subscription ebook model may be going bad...
In amongst the dredging for Oyster news... The Author
Earning team of Hugh Howey and Data Guy did some analysis of their own on
author incomes. After seven quarters they have enough data on what individual
big authors may have been earning... It makes fascinating reading.
Jane Friedman has put together a great series of charts on the publishing industry and an eye opening interview with Richard Nash. He is
in demand to talk to conferences about the future of the book. This is a must
read for authors! In the future all your income could well come from personal
appearances, the wine you select... the endorsements you have... not from your
book.
In the Craft Section,
To prologue or not to prologue- Kristen Lamb
Fast writers and slow writers.- Eizabeth S Craig
Writing Prompts- (Bookmark)
Essentials of Pitching – Ava Jae (Bookmark)
In the Marketing Section,
50 ways authors can kickstart their publicity –Molly Greene
How to get your Indie book translated – Anne R
Allen (Bookmark)
5 ways to jumpstart creative thinking- Bob Mayer
Selling books at Conventions - Patty Jansen
7 rules to be successful as an author- The Book Designer
How to market to a niche audience (Bookmark)
Connecting to readers -C Hope Clark
Website of the Week
K M Weiland is one of those go to writing craft bloggers.
This week she shared her publishing year breakdown. This is a great snapshot of what Indie Authors need to do.
To Finish,
This week in the Ask Polly section of The New York Times was
a plaintive letter asking Polly if the author should just give up on writing.
The reply was quoted all around the blogosphere. Go on and read the pearls of
wisdom in this wonderful piece.
Tinderbox is about to strike! Lots of crazy last minute
conference details to do until it goes BOOM. I wish I could clone myself...
then I could get everything done and attend every workshop!
